I have come to strongly believe that opportunities and preparedness collide ever so often to create the thing people call LUCK!

In 2006, I was selected to represent Kenya on the Fortune/ State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership. The experience was exactly what I needed to turn my life around and help many other women and girls in my country.

I am slowly beginning to see why this opportunity came my way.  At the time, however, no one could ever have convinced me of all the great things have happened as a result.
Continue Reading »

We at Vital Voices are excited by a bit of little known, but ground-breaking news. Rwanda has just sworn in the world’s first women-majority parliament, as well as their first female Speaker of Parliament, Rose Mukantabana! The Vital Voices Global Leadership Network pledges its support to these women leaders to ensure that together, we can create lasting change in women’s lives.

The lower house of the Rwandan parliament (the Chamber of Deputies) is now 56.3% female, and leads the world as #1 for the percentage of women in parliament, according to the International Parliamentary Union (IPU). Other African countries to rank among the IPU’s top 20 for percentages of women in parliament are Angola at (#8 with 37.3%), Mozambique (#13 with 34.8%), South Africa (#17 with 33%) and Uganda (#20 with 30.7%). The USA ranks number 69 with 16.8%.

Continue Reading »

The Summit kicked off with a bang this morning.  About 200 leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean poured into our opening plenary session, where they were greeted by Summit Moderator and Former CNN International Anchor, Sonia Ruseler.

Throughout the course of the morning we heard from women leaders, including President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton (pre-recorded), who reinforced the same message: empowering women will uplift nations and change the course of history.

Continue Reading »

The highlight of my trip home to Enoosaen, Kenya was the girls’ school groundbreaking event that took place on August 16, 2008. On this day I was very excited but also nervous. I was not sure if the community would turnout in big numbers for the event or if the only attendees would be from supporting women’s groups—Empiris group, the Kakenya Center for Excellence Committee and my friends from Vital Voices.

In preparation for the event, women from the village spent the whole night cooking: a bull was slaughtered and coupled with all of the other wonderful food that we have in Kenya. A film crew from America was busy shooting footage and other guests were beginning to arrive, traveling on rough roads for four hours to reach Enoosaen… I felt truly blessed to have such a group of supporters and friends. Why worry about the ones who don’t want to come? – I consoled myself.

Continue Reading »

This past summer I was privileged to spend two months in my rural village of Enoosaen, Kenya. The mainreason for my trip, other than to visit my family after two years away, was to implement a way forward for a girls’ school I am building in Kenya. I was so glad to be home after a two-year absence but my sense of relaxation was almost immediately replaced by a sense of desperation. The needs of the community are plainly overwhelming; lack of basic needs such as water, power, proper roads, proper education facilities, health care facilities—these are the first things you notice as you near my village. As I drove home on a dusty road, I could not help but wonder how strong my people are and how spoiled I have become living in America. Why did I even complain that there was dust on my nine-month-old son who was having fun watching the open road? He didn’t complain but I was worried he might get sick. Fortunately, he is a strong little man- he was well the whole time I was in Kenya. Continue Reading »

When I met Rebecca Lolosoli, I was immediately struck by her strength, perseverance, and her pride in her culture. Rebecca was one of the 20 women who participated in Vital Voices’ Women’s Leadership in Public Life program, held in Washington DC and New York in April 2008, and her aim was to increase the participation of Samburu women in Kenyan politics. Rebecca is Samburu, and throughout her time she wore her traditional dress and beaded necklaces with pride.

Rebecca shares everything she learns and gains with the Samburu women. After participating in our training program in the U.S., she returned and shared the information with others. She not only supports those in her own Umoja village, but women leaders from surrounding villages throughout the district as well. Her follow-up project was to organize trainings at Umoja and two surrounding villages, and our visit to Umoja was to provide trainings in leadership, advocacy, and artisan craft development. Continue Reading »

I’ve just returned from an amazing trip to Africa where I participated as a trainer in four incredible training programs focused on increasing the role of women in public life. These four programs were all developed in conjunction with African alumnae of past Vital Voices programs. All of them inspired me and reminded me of the very real power of women as agents of change.

Nigeria

I started my trip in Lagos, Nigeria, where two alumnae of the April 2008 Vital Voices Women’s Political Academy held in Washington, DC, Meeme Ekanem and Olutoyin Obaseki, planned and organized a 3 day training for 30 women who have told their political party that they want to be party backed candidates in the upcoming Lagos State Council election. These women were from different parties but shared the same objective of being elected to the Lagos State Council.

Continue Reading »

When I first discovered Vital Voices, I was an economics student. Now, after my experience and the end of my mentorship, I still am an econ major, but with a passionate interest on development. Through Vital Voices I have learned about the imperative role that women have in developing countries, especially in mine, El Salvador. This role of mediator between home, family, job, community and country is a tough one, and one that I was able to partially understand through my mentorship in the Corporate Sustainability Department of HSBC, and will continue to understand as I explore some or all of a woman’s roles myself. The greatest example of success in balancing different roles that I had during my time at HSBC was that of my mentor, Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila, an exceptional woman whose eclectic accomplishments, I have described previously.

Continue Reading »

Kakenya’s dream for higher education has inspired us all. Her story has been published widely, but I never tire of being reminded of her grace and strength. There are still millions of girls throughout Africa who face genital mutilation, child labor, and forced marriages, and whose futures are limited because of traditions and attitudes that treat girls as property. It was beautiful to see Kakenya Ntaiya emerge from this scenario not only as the first women from the Maasai village of Enoosaen to earn a PhD, but also as an advocate for the girls who remain.

A Vital Voices delegation ventured to the Maasai Mara area, and drove another 4 hours in Transmara West to the village of Enoosaen, to participate in the ground-breaking of the Kakenya’s Leadership School for girls, which will be the only girls boarding school in the area. Kakenya is our 2008 Rising Voices Award winner, and is a renown advocate for girls’ rights and education. Continue Reading »

In the midst of violence that has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands, Vital Voices reached out to the Georgian women leaders in our global network.

Wednesday, August 13th, Tanya Woynarowsky, Vital Voices’ Program Officer for Eurasia spoke to two of our Network members living in Tibilisi: Gvantsa Katsiashvili (pictured left) and Mari Meskhi. Both reported that Russian troops are pervasive and continue to loot the city. Yet despite their current situation, Gvantsa and Mari told us that they are trying to be brave and patient.

A testament to their tremendous leadership, both women strive to raise their voices to promote awareness of the current situation. Continue Reading »